


Let Go

by GettingGreyer



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Episode: s01e11, Ficlet, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, One Shot, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, The Promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 19:26:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17731205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GettingGreyer/pseuds/GettingGreyer
Summary: Nothing was how it was supposed to be—nothing was as simple as she was told it was going to be.The Horde had painted a mosaic of black and white in Adora’s mind. The princesses were monsters, machinations of evil that killed, slaughtered, and oppressed their people. But the Horde was going to save them, just like that had saved Adora. The Fright Zone wasn’t kind, because the world wasn’t kind and the only way that the princesses could be defeated is if Etheria’s heroes grew up strong in the darkness.But that was a lie.****As Adora clings to the wall of a disintegrating world, she thinks about all that has happened to lead her here.





	Let Go

Nothing was how it was supposed to be—nothing was as simple as she was told it was going to be.

The Horde had painted a mosaic of black and white in Adora’s mind. The princesses were monsters, machinations of evil that killed, slaughtered, and oppressed their people. But the Horde was going to save them, just like that had saved Adora. The Fright Zone wasn’t kind, because the world wasn’t kind and the only way that the princesses could be defeated is if Etheria’s heroes grew up strong in the darkness.

But that was a lie.

Everything was a lie and as Adora left the Horde, the colors of the mosaic inverted.

Adora had been certain that Catra would leave with her. Adora had been certain that Catra would be as desperate to leave the Horde as Adora had been. Adora had been certain that Catra would be laying in bed by her side—that they would always be together.

But as Adora holds on, with meer fingers keeping her from the dark, she begins to wonder how she could have ever been so certain.

Everything had been so simple before she stepped foot in that temple. The Horde was filled with liars. The Horde was cruel and malicious. The Horde was evil. And it was She-Ra’s duty to destroy them—it was Adora’s destiny to save Etheria.

But Adora was beginning to learn that the world wasn’t so black and white and as she walked through the temple, reliving the memories she had pushed away, the world exploded into vivid color. The red was viciously bleeding with life while the yellow blared with the intensity of the sun. The blue was an intense and lulling calm, a deep and depressing wave that pulled her under into suffocating black.

The colors of the world choked and sundered and destroyed.

Adora screamed as Catra began to walk away, her fingers struggling to hold on—her mind floundering for a reason too.

In all the time that Adora was with the Rebellion, she had assumed that it was the Horde that had corrupted Catra. The Fright Zone, Shadow Weaver, and Hordak were the evil machinations that had twisted her best friend’s mind. The Horde was the villain in Catra’s story and all she needed was for She-Ra, for Adora, to come and save her.

But Adora was no hero and Catra didn’t need saving.

Catra was better off without Adora.

Catra hated and despised Adora.

Catra left Adora behind--saying goodbye one final time.

The Horde was never Catra’s nightmare, it was always Adora—Adora was the villain.

Adora failed Catra, her best friend lived in fearsome shadows because of her. Adora failed Entrapta, she had sought her out for the Rebellion and then she had left her behind in the darkness. And now Adora was going to fail Glimmer, who trusted her when she had no reason to and gave her a home when she had nowhere to go.

Adora had failed everyone she had ever cared about and failure— _failure wasn’t an option._

As Adora clung to the wall, she wanted to think of Etheria and of all she had to do, but in that moment she just wanted to run away. Adora’s mind didn’t spare a thought to the world, not in that moment, in that moment she didn’t care. She didn’t care about her responsibilities or the destiny that was thrust upon her. She didn’t care about anything.

The world was collapsing all around her, every painful defeat and failure resounding in her mind, and her closest friend—the person she had loved above all else—let her go.

The words echoed in her mind, calling for her from the shadows and from the dark. _Let go, Adora. Let go._

Adora closed her eyes, the last image in her mind would be Catra’s sneering gaze saying goodbye, and she let go—not caring if she would ever wake up or if she was to be consumed by the shadows.

**Author's Note:**

> The moment where Adora lets go reminded me a little of when Luke Skywalker let go in Empire. Both of them have had their worlds and their beliefs shattered in some pretty startling ways. Mark Hamill once said in an interview that when Luke lets go its "like committing suicide," so ... I decided to kind of explore this scene from that perspective.


End file.
